Review of “My Sweet Vidalia” by Deborah Mantella

Thanks to Turner Publishing Company via Edelweiss for providing me with a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I learned that this book was told from the perspective of a baby that never drew breath but stayed by her mother’s side to help tell her story, I was pretty intrigued. It’s certainly a unique perspective and my initial reaction was that perhaps it might be something like The Lovely Bones. It was not. This is neither good nor bad. It’s simply written in another style all together. While the book was a very fast read and had some interesting plot twists, I felt that overall it was just okay. Though the characters were vividly drawn, I found that they were somewhat stereotyped and lacked some of the subtle nuances which may have rendered them a bit more believable/realistic. Though I’m unable to give this book an overwhelmingly positive review, I do think it was a solid first novel. I appreciated the author’s writing style enough that I would read her next work.